Numbers show West defeat, but he's not conceding

Democrats were popping open the champagne on Wednesday, celebrating what looked like the narrow defeat of U.S. Rep. Allen West, whose penchant for incendiary rhetoric propelled him to prominence as South Florida's most outspoken and controversial Republican – both at home and on the screens of cable TV viewers across the country.

Though the numbers indicated a loss, and prominent Republicans said they weren't optimistic that West would hang on, the congressman wasn't admitting defeat. His campaign manager slammed a county elections supervisor as incompetent and demanded a recount, and West followed up by asking a Palm Beach County judge to impound ballots and voting machines.

Outside West's immediate circle, however, Republicans and tea party activists were contemplating a political landscape without the one-term congressman.

"It's really shocking. He was a hero to so many people," said Danita Kilcullen, co-founder of Tea Party Fort Lauderdale and one of West's earliest supporters. "People just believed in him. They put their hope into him."

West, 51, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, first ran for Congress in 2008, attempting to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Klein in the Broward-Palm Beach County 22nd District. In 2010, he defeated Klein in a rematch fueled by tea party passion and campaign cash. Early in 2012, the Republican-controlled state Legislature redrew congressional district boundaries to reflect population changes and West found himself in a Democratic-tilting district.

So he left the 22nd to run in more Republican-friendly territory in northern Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties. He moved to Palm Beach Gardens in the spring, but said he didn't intend to sell his Plantation home.

His contest with Democrat Patrick Murphy, a vice president at his family's construction business, was one of the most expensive in the country, with both candidates slashing at each other through negative ads.

People in the new district may never have warmed up to the idea of having a congressman known chiefly for his verbal grenades, said Charles Zelden, a professor of history and legal studies who specializes in politics and voting at Nova Southeastern University.

Among West's many notable quotes: Saying he had "heard" there were 76 to 81 communists among his Democratic colleagues in Congress and suggesting Nazi propaganda chief Joeseph Goebbels would be envious of the Democrats' "incredible propaganda machine."

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said "moderate voters totally rejected Allen West's brand of extremism [and] his outrageous commentary. I think they didn't want a member of Congress who was in the news every day for all the wrong reasons."

Wasserman Schultz was the subject of one of West's most talked-about tirades, when he called her "the most vile, unprofessional and despicable" member of the House, labeled her a "coward," told her to "shut the heck up," and said she had "proven repeatedly that you are not a lady."

Former U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, who was defeated by Klein in 2006 and endorsed West's congressional campaigns, said he suspects "that a lot of the things that he's been very outspoken about just don't sit with the thinking of his new district."

As of Wednesday evening, unofficial results for the 18th U.S. House District showed Murphy with 160,328 votes, or 50.39 percent. West had 157,872 votes, or 49.61 percent.

The exact percentage is significant, because the gap isn't small enough to trigger an automatic recount. Florida law requires a recount when the results are closer than 0.5 percent.

If West ends up losing, he isn't likely to disappear from public view. Sid Dinerstein, chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party, sees a lucrative future for West on the speaking circuit.

Zelden also said West may prosper as a conservative commentator. "He's articulate. He can be witty. He comes up with great phrases. He's very strident in what he believes," Zelden said. "I think West will end up on Fox [News Channel] or conservative talk radio."